Back on the Field
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: Sherry is excited to be back on the field, especially when she is reunited with Jake, who is hired as a mercenary by the U.S. government. Both of them bite off more than they can chew, however, as their mission lands them in Kijuju. What is their mission? Stop an enhanced form of the C-Virus fom being sold and spread to other regions. Join them as they save the world... again.
1. New Assignment

Sherry Birkin groaned as she heard her phone go off. She recognized the ringtone as her boss's. What could they possibly want? Getting to her feet, she stumbled to her dresser and grabbed the smart phone, pressing accept. "Hello?" her voice was groggy.

"Jeez, Sherry," the voice on the other end scolded. "Could you at least try and sound alert?"

She hated her new boss. Ever since Simmons died and the new guy replaced him, he'd been nothing but terrible to her, as if it was her fault that Simmons had turned out to be a traitorous nut job. Erik Spayer was a jackass.

"Sorry, sir," she hopefully managed to sound alert. "Its just that it's five o'clock in the morning on a _Saturday_... you know, my day off."

"Listen," Spayer said, completely ignoring her last reply. "We have a new assignment for you."

Sherry was silent for a moment, unable to believe her ears. It was finally happening again. She'd begged and begged for another assignment, but Spayer refused to give her one, almost as if he knew that a desk job and paperwork was what made her miserable. He probably did. How could he not? After what happened a year ago when she was assigned to protect Jake Muller, how could she go back and just do a desk job?

Shaking herself out of her debilitating shock, she hurriedly said, "What's the job, sir?"

"I will not discuss this over a phone, agent Birkin," Spayer said coldly. "And you are not to come to the office. Your ticket and everything you need is at the airport." After a moment, as if worried that she might get too happy, he said, "The only reason why we are sending you in is because the other person that was hired refused to work with anyone else. I apologize for your ruined day off. Your flight leaves in an hour and a half."

Without waiting for a response, he hung the phone up. Sherry sighed before hurriedly rushing to her closet and throwing her traveling clothes and other supplies that would be necessary into her bag..

**~The next day~**

Sherry felt like she was about to turn into an ice cube. She wryly wondered if her regenerative abilities would help her out if that actually happened. The place she was in wasn't a pleasant one. And needless to say she wasn't too excited about being there. The stories she'd heard about it were from none other than Chris Redfield, who'd fought and killed the famous Albert Wesker there. That's right, she was in Kijuju.

Laying on a bed made out of hay (their finest apparently), she looked around at the dilapidated structure. The ceiling was slowly leaking from the snow that was on the roof, the small fire that was in the fireplace, which seemed to be the most secure part of the building, was only giving off so much warmth, and she was sure that she saw one of the wooden walls quiver as a strong gust of wind tore through the air.

This was what she wanted, though. She signed up for a late partner, she didn't even know who it was, a cold room, and a building seemed to be mere seconds from falling apart. Feeling antsy and restless, she jumped off her bed and started pacing around, running her through fingers through her short blonde hair, making it messier than it already was. And just when she thought that she was going to scream from boredom and impatience, the door opened, stealing what little warmth was left in the room and replaced it with a frigid coldness that went straight to her bones despite the sweater and wool jacket that she had on.

Two people walked through before the door slammed shut. One man had a black knit beanie one along with a grey jacket that was covering a black business suit. In most words, it was Spayer.

The other person had a long black jacket on, a hood was covering their face, the only real observation that she could make was that they were tall. "Agent Birkin," Spayer nodded to her coldly. "This will be your accomplice for the next few days or so. He handed her a large envelope and retreated to the door. "I'll be at HQ if you need anything. Your partner knows the facts, he'll answer any questions that the files leave you clueless on." He opened the door and paused for a moment as if debating to say something or not. "Good luck," finally came out of his mouth before he retreated out of the cabin and away from them.

As soon as the door closed, Sherry, looked away from it and at her new partner, curious as to who would have requested her specifically.

"Damn," he finally said, sighing. "I thought that jackass would never leave me alone."

She frowned slightly as she looked up at the hooded figure, thoroughly confused. She recognized that voice somewhere, just hearing it brought flashbacks of j'avos, snow, Edonia, and a huge monster called the Ustanak. She stood frozen in place as she looked at him, refusing to believe that it was actually him.

"Something wrong, Supergirl?" the hooded man asked, pulling his hood down to reveal a buzz cut red hair, stunning blue eyes, a large scar on his cheek, and his trademark smartass grin.

Her eyes widened impossibly more and her mouth went slack as she looked at none other than Jake Muller. Her breath constricted in her throat and she felt her heart beat start to pick up pace. She opened and closed her mouth trying to come up with something to say, but speech failed her miserably.

"Sherry?" Jake asked again, looking at her his facial features changing from a smartass smile to a concerned frown. "Are you okay?"

She snapped from her haze and a smile started creeping on to her face. "Yeah," she said after a moment. "I'm fine."

Jake grinned and gestured toward the envelope. "We've got out work cut out for us."

Sherry managed a nod, still slightly disbelieving. As she walked over to the small bed, she gestured for Jake to take the chair. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and snorted. "I'll take my chances standing. That chair wouldn't hold me."

Sherry rolled her eyes and patted the bed beside her. "Then sit here. You're making me nervous by standing up."

"As I do recall," Jake scoffed, "it was you who was standing up pacing around the cabin about this time last year when we were stuck in that blizzard."

Sherry had to fight back an eye roll but. She observed that he sat down without too much headache. Quietly, she read through the files that were in front of her.

"Dominic Sleighter, known bioterrorist, has gotten his hands on an enhanced form of the C-Virus," she murmured. "We're supposed to 'capture if possible-'"

"-terminate if necessary,'" Jake finished for her quietly.

**...**

Jake looked at Sherry worriedly. It wasn't like she hadn't killed things before, but he wasn't sure if she'd killed anything other than B.O.W.s.

"Sherry," he said quietly. "What's wrong?'

"N-nothing," she said quickly. "Just a bit distracted is all." Changing to subject back to the mission, she muttered, "And we're given creative control. What do you suggest?" She looked up at the redheaded mercenary with a raised eyebrow.

Jake smirked at her and said, "You know me too well, Supergirl." Noticing the serious look on her face, he quickly continued. "I've been here for a week or so and I've figured out a few important things. I haven't made any move to start working because you weren't here."

"How did you manage to get me out here anyway?" she questioned.

Jake shrugged. "I figured you'd be bored off your ass from those texts you've been sending me. The government sent out some agent to pay for my services... can't remember the name... not important. He mentioned something about the D.S.O. being involved and I requested having you as a partner. He contacted your boss and told me no can do. I told him either I worked with you or they could take their mission, their cause, and their money and shove it up their asses."

Sherry smiled warmly at him and Jake felt himself grinning back. "All that trouble just to make sure I was your partner?"

Jake shrugged. "You're one of two D.S.O. agents I've fought with, and I have to admit that I prefer you over Kennedy."

Sherry frowned at him slightly. "Leon's a-"

"Great guy, he and Claire saved you from Raccoon City," Jake cut her off, finishing her sentence for her yet again.

Sherry's blue eyes flashed with slight annoyance, but Jake ignored it, smiling at her as if she wasn't shooting him an annoyed glare. But when she didn't wipe the look off her face, Jake sighed. "Sherry, I was just kidding, Kennedy's alright. Doesn't mean I don't have my favorite American."

Sherry rolled her eyes and managed a small smile. "Its good to be back on the field Jake... thanks."

Jake smirked, "Don't mention it, supergirl."

Sherry looked back down at the files and frowned slightly, "Neo Umbrella is a suspect as well?"

Jake nodded, "It seems as if some of my blood was taken... other than the ones that Carla managed to get her hands on."

"Is that why they called you in?" Sherry questioned. "You can't be infected."

Jake nodded, smiling wryly, "Guess I'm just special."

Sherry laughed lightly and sighed, standing up she collected her gear, which was sitting on the far corner of the tiny bed. In her boredom, she had set her gear up and made sure everything was in working condition and clean enough to shine... needless to say she'd been up and ready to go for a while. "Alright, Wise Ass," Sherry said, turning around to face her old (and new) partner. "Let's see what you've found out."

**I always WATCHED my bro play RE, and finally he got sick of me just standing by and watching. After much arguing and fighting from me (when things jump out at me I tend to freak out, lol), he forced me to play. What game? RE6 What campaign? Jake's! And I'd already seen it played, but once I played it for myself, I realized just how friggin awesome it truly was and just how much I ship them. Needless to say, I felt urged to write a story... I hope you guys like it. I'm kinda nervous, though. This is my first RE fic, I hope I did it justice. I am sorry for the length, my other chapters should be much longer.**

**I don't own anything that you recognize.**


	2. New Partners

_**(December 20th 2013 12:23 pm)**_

As they walked out of the building that she'd been given as a living quarters for the night, Sherry felt the frigid wind against her face and had to fight back the urge to bury her face further into her white snow wool jacket. Instead she looked up at Jake, who was concentrating on the road in front of them. His hood was pulled up, protecting his neck and ears from the frigid air. She could still see his face, his blue eyes were narrowed due to the cold, and his face was contorted into a permanent scowl. It was as if no time had passed. If she ignored the crummy wooden buildings, she could almost imagine them back in Edonia last year fighting off the J'avos and the Ustanak, and every single other monster that came their way.

"Jake," Sherry said after a moment. "What's such a big deal about this guy?"

"What do you mean, supergirl?" the mercenary questioned. "I thought you thought that every single form of bioterrorism was important.

"I do," Sherry agreed quickly, not wanting him to think that she was uncaring. "But why was this one so dire that they hunted you down and bent over backwards just so you would help them out. We have a vaccine for the virus, after all."

"They really haven't told you anything, have they, supergirl?" Jake questioned sighing.

"What do you mean?" Sherry asked nervously.

"They must not like you very much to make you go into this blind," Jake said, his eyes scanning the road ahead of them, apparently finding traders and hagglers to not be a threat, before he placed a rough hand on her wool jacket and gently pulled her to a stop. He made her turn slightly so that she was faced with his cold blue eyes and his face contorted to an even deeper frown as he spoke. "Everything that we did last year was in vain, supergirl. Using my blood, they made the virus resistant to the vaccine... there is no cure anymore."

Sherry felt as thought a cold hand was clamped around her heart. "W-what? Why didn't Spayer tell me! All of the work that we did, and he didn't have the decency to tell me that I spent six months being tested on, and a six months being chased around the globe by a psychotic B.O.W. for nothing!" Sherry hadn't been that angry for a long time. She was fuming and she was sure that her face was red, and it wasn't from the cold.

"Calm down, supergirl," Jake murmured. "We'll make this right again, I promise."

"What about you," Sherry said. "With the C-Virus being that strong, can you be infected with it?"

"Its derived from my blood," Jake said. "And my blood stronger than any cure and any virus out there. I'll be fine."

"That's a relief," Sherry sighed, feeling just a little better about the entire situation.

"I had mixed feelings about asking for you," Jake admitted after a moment of what seemed like hesitation, "but after being in contact with two more government agents, one was an ass and the other was a dumbass. I didn't want to risk having to depend on someone who was going to get themselves killed. I know I can trust you to look after yourself and watch my back at the same time."

"You know the B.S.A.A. is out here also," Sherry said. "You could have asked them for a partner."

Jake rolled his eyes. "As fun as partnering up with Redfield would be, I still choose you."

"TerraSave is probably gonna be out here also," Sherry said, smiling as she realized it.

"That's great, Sherry," Jake said. "Why do you care about them?"

"A friend," she said simply. "But enough of that," she placed a cold hand on his shoulder. "We'll catch up tonight. Deal?"

Jake breathed out a short laugh before saying. "Deal." He began walking forward again, Sherry trailing behind him slightly so she could see where he was going.

He walked into what seemed to be a market area. Plenty of people were around, talking, haggling, and trading for food and supplies. Sherry eyed a stall of delicious looking red apples and saw, with a hint of amusement, that Jake was eying the same stall as well. "We're definitely coming back this way," he declared. "As long as everyone doesn't freeze over first."

Sherry let out a snort of laughter, it died quickly though as she felt the back of her neck tingle. It was almost as if someone was watching her. She blinked, feeling slightly uneasy. "Jake," she murmured. "Does something feel off to you?"

"Damn," he muttered. "I was hoping I was just being paranoid. Someone's following us."

"How did they-"

"Neither of us are dressed like the locals," Jake pointed out. "So its probably pretty obvious. Don't let them know that we suspect them."

"Will do," Sherry promised.

"You got your stun rod?" Jake questioned. "You were pretty awesome with that last year."

"Yeah," she replied. "Back of my holster."

"Good," he said.

Taking her hand, he made a sharp right and they walked into an ally formed by to buildings that seemed to be about ready to fall down and the remains be used as firewood.

"What are you-"

She was cut off by his large hand covering her mouth. "Shh," he murmured. "Trust me." She nodded and tentatively he removed his hand. He hurriedly pulled her down the alley and to the end. There was a stack of crates and a barrel at the end of the alley. He pulled both of them down behind the crate and out of sight to everyone and everything.

She sat on the cold and hard ground, her back against the cold and brittle wooden wall, as Jake crouched over her. He was close enough for her to make out the different shades of blue in his eyes and for his warm breath to brush across her face. The proximity made her blush and for some strange reason her heart started thumping a lot harder than before, suddenly, she didn't feel so cold anymore.

He looked at her for a moment, yet another intoxicating breath spilling across her face. The look on his seemed to be a neutral one, but she didn't really have enough time to examine it before Jake tensed up, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown. A second later, she realized why. Footsteps were echoing off the dilapidated walls and she imagined they weren't friendly ones. The steps were getting louder and louder as the other person in the alley got closer.

_**...**_

As Jake looked down at Sherry, a familiar surge of protectiveness filled him. It reminded him of the previous year when they were stuck in China and he realized that she was in the facility along with him. "_Stay down_," he mouthed.

Jumping up, he realized that his attacker was closer than he originally anticipated. Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, Jake slammed the man into the nearest wall, the force of the blow made the wood crack and groan slightly. The man had dark brown skin, he was slightly taller than Jake, and his build was muscular. He wore an all too familiar green uniform with a sickeningly familiar emblem on his arm.

"Who the hell are you?" Jake growled. "Why are you following us?"

"I am Josh Stone," the man replied his accent thick, but he spoke in a relaxing tone, obviously trying to calm Jake down. "Captain of the B.S.A.A.'s Delta team in South Africa. And I was not following you, I was following the creature that was following you."

In his confusion, Jake let the man go and took a step back, gesturing for Sherry to stand up. With his arms crossed, he looked at the man. "What was following us?"

"An infectant of the new C-Virus," the man replied grimly. "Its similar to the J'avo in all aspects except of doesn't mutate until it goes into its... cacoon."

"You're apart of the B.S.A.A.," Sherry said. "I know the North American. section was sending soldiers here to help clean up. Who was sent?"

"Who are you?" Josh questioned. "How do you know this?"

Sherry dug through her back pocket and pulled out a small wallet, flipping it open she said, "Sherry Birkin, Agent for the D.S.O."

"Ms. Birkin," Josh said formally. "And your friend is..."

"My partner, Jake Muller," she answered.

"Very well," Josh said. "You've both already been mentioned at the B.S.A.A. headquarters near here. I'll lead you there if you'd like."

Jake looked over at Sherry, who was looking back at him. He saw it in her eyes, she really wanted to know who was in Africa with them. With Jake's luck, he was sure it was Redfield. If it was, Jake couldn't say that he was upset. He was brave and a decent person to have with you in a fight. He may not have liked Chris, but the red headed mercenary wasn't stupid. "Fine," he said. "Lead the way."

_**...**_

_**(December 20th 2013 1:00 pm)**_

The heat was on in the B.S.A.A. building. It wasn't a cozy as Sherry would have been in her own house, but it was warm enough to make her shed her wool jacket and walk around with it on her arm, allowing her beige sweater to show. Josh was a head of them, his combat boots echoing off the tidy marble tile as they walked forward. The building wasn't terribly large, Sherry walked into a larger one everyday when she went to work, and she was sure that the apartment complex that she lived in was larger, but compared to all of the other buildings that she'd seen this place was the golden mansion of an emperor. After taking numerous twists and turns. They ended up at the end of a long hallway, covered by an ugly green rug all the way through. There was a door on the back wall, Josh turned the door knob slowly and led the way in. Sherry immediately recognized two out of three voices. The only unfamiliar voice was that of a female.

Sherry led Jake inside the room and felt a sense of delight as she saw Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy sitting at a table along with a pretty woman with pale skin and blonde hair. She smiled at them warmly as Leon got up and gave Sherry a hug. "Another mission already," he muttered in her ear before letting her go and holding out his hand to Jake.

After a moment of hesitation that was obvious on Jake's face, the younger man gripped the government agent's and in a firm handshake. "I feel better knowing that you're in good hands, Sherry," Leon said sounding honest.

Sherry managed a smile at Leon and said, "I'm not twelve anymore, I can take care of myself..." she trailed off as both men looked at her. "It is nice to know he has my back, though," she relented.

Leon gestured toward the blonde woman, "Sherry Birkin, Jake Muller, this is Jill Valentine, Chris'... normal partner. And she's been back with him since... well since we all made it back from China."

Sherry knew he was trying to refrain from bringing up Piers' name, so instead of lingering on the subject, she smiled warmly back at Jill and walked over to her, shaking the woman's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Valentine." she said.

"Please," she said, reaching her hand out toward Jake, who slowly reached out and shook her hand as well, "Jill's fine. And since we're all going to be working together, we might as well be as informal as possible."

Sherry raised an eyebrow at the information and sat down beside Chris so that Jake wouldn't have to, he sat beside Leon and the tension seemed to mount a bit. "We're gonna be working together," Sherry repeated, a smile graced her face. "This is great news. I'm glad to hear it."

She looked over at Jake, who's face resembled a neutral expression. He looked back at Sherry his eyebrow raised questioningly. It was almost a silent battle of wills, she was trying to get him to be more open with the group and he was refusing. Seeing that she was losing miserably, and that the other four people there were watching then confusedly, she decided to ask Leon a question, hoping to defuse the tension filled silence. "What are you doing here?" she questioned.

Leon smiled wryly. "You weren't supposed to be on this mission. Jake insisted that it would be you as his partner. I was the one that was supposed to help him. So instead of helping in the D.S.O., apparently I'm a tradable agent, they sent me to help in the B.S.A.A.. I'm here because of my knowledge of bioterrorism and how to fend off B.O.W.s. Chris and Jill are here because of their... knowledge of the area."

Sherry knew what he was talking about and from the way that Jake tensed up, she was sure that he knew also. Sherry heard a beeping and then Josh sighing. "I've gotta go and supervise some of the rookies training." Without so much as another word, the Kijuju native walked out of the room.

Sherry smiled at Chris, he gave her a half smile back and said, "Good to see you up and running again, Sherry, it's stupid to make a good agent such as yourself be stuck behind a desk while bioterrorism is still going on."

Sherry felt herself flushing slightly at the comment. Chris looked over at Jake and took a deep breath. "Hello, Jake, feel good to be back and working with Sherry, saving the world again?"

The room lapsed into silence, and Sherry thought she was going to suffocate under the intensity that she felt. "Hey," Jake said calmly, his tone might not have been the most engaging, but she didn't detect a note of hostility. She almost fell out of her seat. "Yeah, it feels good having my partner back."

She saw the look of disbelief in Leon's eyes as well. The older Raccoon City survivor hid it well though, a small smile coming to his face. "Well," Leon said. "Let's get down to business. I'be heard about a few places that have had some strange-"

BOOM! The explosion that cut Leon off was hard enough to shake the foundation and cause some dust to come off the ceiling and coat Sherry's hair along with everyone else's. "The hell was that?" Jake demanded, already on his feet and heading for the door. As soon as he opened it, he yelled, "Oh, shit!" and closed it again. "We've got company," he informed them.

Sherry frowned, pulling out her hand gun and making sure it was fully loaded. "What kind of company?" Jill demanded.

"The bad kind," Jake remarked. "Those new J'avo... and Sherry, you're never gonna believe what I just saw."

She had a sinking feeling in her gut as he spoke. "As long as you don't say the Ustanak, I'm okay with it."

"Then never mind," she heard him mutter. "Come on," Jake said in his normal loud voice, pulling his nine oh nine out of its holster. "Watch out for that thing I didn't tell you about because Sherry told me not to. It's a real jackass."

Sherry rolled her eyes, she swore that in bad situations, his sarcastic humor got worse. He opened the door and Sherry had to fight back a large gulp, she could see ten or more J'avo coming toward them, not to mention the screams and shouts that she heard from further in the building. Aiming her handgun at the nearest J'avo, she deduced one solid fact, all hell had broken loose.

**Yep, I just brought the Ustanak in! I don't care what anyone says, the best (and funniest) moments of the Jake campaign was when he was fighting that thing, his taunts were hilarious! It was made from the C-Virus, so I imagine that it's possible to make another one. Thanks kunfupandalover for reviewing!**


	3. An Old Friend Comes to Play

_**(December 20th 2013 1:17 pm)**_

Jake pointed his nine oh nine at the J'avo directly in front of him, aiming for the head. One squeeze of his finger sent a bullet hurtling toward the infectant and he went down, turning into a pile of ash. Grinning in satisfaction, he turned his aim and shot yet another J'avo in the head. The others were around him, shooting the B.O.W.s down as well. Soon the J'avo were too close to aim at quickly, so instead of wasting precious ammo, he shoved his weapon back into his holster and slammed his fist into the first J'avo that he was able to come in contact with. The uppercut was strong enough to snap a neck. It flew back along with maybe three others that it'd hit along the way.

Sherry was next to him, and like him, she'd given up her gun for melee combat, her stun rod buzzing with a dangerous amount of electricity as it came into contact with a J'avo's stomach. The B.O.W. stumbled backward and Sherry jumped forward, snapping its neck. The others had decent sized knives out, slicing through the ranks of assailants. Jake saw Jill nimbly flip over a J'avo and ram it into Chris' knife before slitting the throat of the one behind it and finally breaking the neck of one to her left just as she landed on her two feet gracefully. He was secretly glad that she was on their side.

Not too long after, the hall filled with ashes of the fallen J'avo. No one saw the need to say anything, they all just ran forward, toward the sound of gunfire and screaming.

Jake had to hold back a wince as he heard the all too familiar sound of a metal fist crashing into a wall. "Guys," he muttered. "Can't wait to introduce you to a friend of mine."

They got to the end of the hallway and Jake heard and felt the heavy footsteps of the Ustanak. "We are so screwed," he muttered.

The group paused for a moment, collecting their thoughts before jumping out. Jake saw their new friend. It had an employee by a large metal fist, it was squeezing him while small drills dug into his skin. All Jake heard was his high pitch scream which turned to a gargle at the end as blood spilled out of his mouth. He slumped forward, completely dead. He creature threw the now dead man across the room, knocking him into the wall, as if he was angry that there was now blood staining his hand. Jake felt himself shaking in anger, and of course, he said the first thing that came to him mind, "Hey, Asshole, why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

The Ustanak turned around slowly to face him, the others were too busy fighting off J'avo to pay him much attention. Jake didn't wait for an answer, which would have probably been impossible to get, and he didn't wait for a reaction. Raising his nine oh nine, he aimed it at the creature's head and fired. Of course it didn't do anything to him, except piss him off. He saw it coming before it actually happened. The Ustanak pulled its arm back and whipped it forward. Its metal hand flying forward, connected by a chain. Jake did what came instinctively, he grabbed the nearest person to him, which happened to be Jill, and tackled her to the ground. Just in time for the Ustanak's fist to fly over them, barely missing his scalp.

Jake and Jill both got up, the look that Jill gave him was one filled with gratitude. "Thanks," she breathed before Jake turned around and began his assault on the Ustanak yet again. It was running toward him. Without thinking about it, Jake ran forward, a few steps and cut to the left hard. The creature didn't think twice about going after him. The mercenary didn't have any other plans of action, all that was on his mind was getting the B.O.W. away from Sherry and the others.

He heard the sound of its fist coming unclasped from his wrist. Not thinking about it, he dove forward and rolled onto the cold tile. The fist going over his head as he got to his feet and took a right this time. He heard the sound of the thing's fist slamming into a wall. He imagined that the building was going to need some work after all that was going on. Half a second later, he heard the sound of the heavy thudding footsteps that could only be the Ustanak chasing him again. A J'avo came rushing over, a long sword in its hand. Jake dodged past the blade, gripping the thing's wrist and twisting it behind its back. The Ustanak took that moment of pause to sling its hand forward again. Jake used the J'avo as a shield, but the impact was strong enough to partially knock the breath out of Jake as the J'avo turned to ashes. Leaning down to grab the sword, he took off running yet again.

_**...**_

Leon frowned as he saw Jake running for his life a sword in his hand and the Ustanak after him. Leon managed to think with some humor that it really didn't know when to quit... he was halfway curious as to who Jake's exgirlfriend actually was. He brought his own hand gun out and shot the B.O.W. in the head as it was barrelling forward after Jake. He hardly seemed to register it... or at least that's what Leon thought. He realized that wasn't the case as the monster stopped. It turned toward the government agent, brought his metal hand back and whipped it forward, causing the attachment to hurtle forward.

Leon dove downward, but he was too slow. The hand was seconds from closing in on him when he felt a large force slam into him. He crashed into the marble tile painfully. Ignoring the discomfort, he used the momentum of his fall to roll and land back on his feet. He felt his heart sinking as he realized what happened. Chris had knocked him out of the way and the Ustanak had taken him instead. Jill was already on the move, closely followed by Sherry and himself. Before anyone could think of a plan of action, Jake was already there.

"Hey, shit-for-brains!" he exclaimed.

Funnily enough the Ustanak paused for a moment, its metal hand stopped trying to squeeze the life out of Chris. Jake took that as an initiative to spring forward and slam his fist in the behemoth's face with powerful uppercut. He heard the sound from over ten feet away as if it'd happened right by his side. It caused the B.O.W.'s head to snap back, it let go of Chris and flew backward into a wall, breaking it into pieces before landing outside on its back.

The moment of breathing didn't last long. The B.O.W. got to its feet and looked at them. The five of them, the only remaining people in the B.S.A.A. lobby, grouped together in the middle of the room, weapons pointed at the creature. It gave them one last look as if saying 'next time!' Before turning around and walking off much faster than Leon thought should have been possible.

Leon looked at Chris and smiled at him, clapping the Captain of the Alpha team on the back. "Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it, Leon," Chris said. "You would have done the same for me. Besides, Claire would kill me if I let you get hurt."

Leon smiled despite the warmth that he felt rising in his cheeks. "Not like she wouldn't murder me if you got hurt," he pointed out.

Chris shrugged, "Not likely, she likes you more."

Leon managed a light laugh and said, "Guess its a good thing that we're both still okay."

Chris looked at Jake and took a deep breath. "Thank you. You saved my and my partner's life."

Jake looked at him for a moment and just blinked. "No problem, Redfield," he finally said. "We're partners... right?"

_**...**_

Jake may not have been Chris' number one fan, but he was trying to show Sherry that he could be friendly. It wasn't like she'd outright said that he was unfriendly, but Jake could take a hint. And that hint was even more obvious when he saw the stunned look on her face. He merely looked at her with a raised eyebrow, trying his best to look innocently confused about her facial expression.

She blinked slowly at him before shaking herself out of her shock and giving him a small smile. "I think we're a magnet for trouble."

Jake couldn't stop the smile that came to his face as he looked back at her. It quickly died, however, as he looked around at all the damage. There were four bodies of B.S.A.A. employees; the ones that hadn't run away fast enough. He felt a small twinge of regret and no tiny amount of sadness as his eyes roamed the room. His eyes found Sherry again and saw that she had her right hand on her left forearm, he saw blood dripping down her fingers, to the floor. Frowning, he took a step forward and said, "You okay, supergirl?"

Sherry nodded and removed her hand after a moment, wincing in pain as the healing process had obviously begun. Jake saw that a deep cut, most likely caused by, a J'avo with swords, was knitting itself together. Within seconds, it was closed, not leaving so much as a scar on her smooth skin. "Is everyone alright?" Chris questioned. "No cuts or injuries that we don't know about?"

Everyone remained silent, waiting for someone to speak up. When no one did, Chris nodded and said, "We need to figure out where that thing went."

"The only long range weapons we have are hand guns," Leon protested. "It'll die laughing at us!"

"I don't plan on following it yet," Chris said placatingly. "I just want to know where we can start looking when we do leave."

"There's no need for all of us to go," Jill pointed out. "Redfield and I can go, you guys see if you can find any B.S.A.A. personnel and inform them of what happened."

Jake felt himself nodding in agreement to the plan, he, Sherry, and Leon walked toward the broken glass of the front door, while Chris and Jill hopped out of the hole in the wall on the opposite side of the building.

They didn't have to go too far, they made it outside into the cold air to find it beginning to snow. Jake scowled as a snowflake landed on his nose, it made him go slightly cross eyed to look at it. He heard a small giggle come from beside him and saw Sherry smiling up at him. Before he could inquire what she was laughing at, she reached her hand up and brushed the flake off his face. The contact made his skin tingle slightly, and brought a small bit of warmth to his cheeks. He'd never been so happy for the cold, there was no way she'd know the difference. He was so distracted that he didn't even hear someone walk up, the first time he noticed them was when he heard someone ask, "What the hell just happened?"

He looked at who said it. Josh Stone and another woman was behind him, dressed in a B.S.A.A. uniform and had a heavy jacket on. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, showing her pretty features.

"We were attacked," Leon reported. "J'avo and a Ustanak."

"This isn't good," the woman said. "Josh, what are we going to do? The people here just began living normally after the Las Plagas incident four years ago!"

"I know, Sheva," Josh sighed before turning his attention back to the group at hand. "How much damage was done to headquarters?"

"A lot," Jake remarked. "You're missing a wall, a few windows and there's loads of bullet holes and cracks in there too. Not to mention four casualties."

Josh and Sheva bowed their heads for a moment before the captian of the Delta team looked back at the group of foreigners. "Alright, we'll get everything settled... I was supposed to be on my way a few minutes ago to get the team that TerraSave sent in to help with the outbreaks." He looked at Leon, "Can you drive?"

The government agent nodded and Josh threw him a lone key on a ring. "A jeep is parked just by the first stall that you'll see in the market, take that to the airport and collect the people."

"I don't really know if I know my way-"

Jake cut Leon's protests off by grabbing the key out of his hand, "Don't worry, hero, I do."

Josh nodded at Jake in appreciation. "Me and Sherry can go to the airport," Jake said. "I know you're worried about Chris and Jill."

Leon looked at him, his eyes narrowed due to the cold wind that was whipping through. "Alright," he finally said, "but please be careful."

Jake gave him a cocky grin and said, "I'm always careful."

**Please, Jake, who are you trying to kid? Can anyone guess who's coming in next chapter? I own nothing!**


End file.
